A Hateful Love
by XiaoyuKaede
Summary: Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Tenten always wanted to know how it felt to actually have a boyfriend. Bad thing is, their love life is a onesided love... but what if the boys begin to like them in return? Will love occur or hate form?
1. Sweet Memories

Now that I think about it, I think I'll end my other story and just do this story instead…I realized that I'm not doing that great in the other one and it just seems as though if I were to correct some parts in the story, that would be a TON of parts there. So I dunno, maybe in the future I'll redo and edit some of the parts that were disappointing. Well, now I'm writing this story and hope that it is like 100 better that my previous story in this anime. If I'm not doing good on this story either, I'll just give up writing….forever…jk…That's something you know Naruto wouldn't do…anyways…

Disclaimer: Naruto wasn't my idea. Just a fan here.

Summary: Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Tenten always wanted to know how it felt to actually have a boyfriend. All of their crushes don't seem to pay any attention to them making feel as their one-sided love hopeless. But what happens, if the boys begin to take interest in them after all of them were gone for two years? Will love occur or hate form?

Note: _Slant_ means a flashback in this chapter and a _slant/**bold**_ means inner thoughts...just so you guys know...

Note: Majority of the people here are 16 while Team Gai is 17...just so you guys know...

* * *

"I heard that all the boys are coming back to Konoha today." Sakura commented, her back leaning against a tree in the park, as she sat with Tenten, Hinata, and Ino. "After all this time, they're finally back." 

Ino grabbed a tree branch and pulled herself off of the ground and grinned, her current straight bored face into a face filled with delight. "Really?"

Hinata nodded, her finger twirling around with the front side of her hair. "My dad says that Neji will be coming back today." Hinata ceased fiddling with her hair and turned her attention to Tenten who blushed. "...Tenten..." She slyly said, several giggles exiting her mouth.

"W-what?" Tenten stammered, her lungs feeling as though it was caught in a web. "Don't be silly. I have no relationship with your cousin other than him being my friend."

Ino mischeviously smiled, her arms behind her back as she leaned against a tree as she stood.

"By the way," Sakura stated, a pointer rested against her chin. "Where exactly have they been all this time anyway?"

Ino and Tenten shrugged their arms in unison. "Actually, I never really asked about that." Ino replied, staring up to the sky as if she had caught something interesting in her vision.

Hinata mumbled as she tried to speak up. "My dad says it's something like studying elsewhere. I'm not sure but I think that that's it."

Tenten thought for a brief moment and spoke. "Hm...really? I never thought that that would be the answer."

Hinata nodded, clasping her hands together and spun her thumbs together with the other. "Oh yeah, if you guys like, we can visit them at the main gate soon. They should be arriving in any moment now."

Sakura gave her friend a thumbs up, jumping upward off the grass and dusting off all the dirt that clung unto her clothing. "Sure, that'll be nice."

Ino shook her head. "Sorry I can't. I'm busy for the rest of the day."

Tenten heavily sighed, crossing her arms. "Doing what, exactly?" Tenten questioned, with an eyebrow brought up. "Don't tell me it's that flower business of yours."

"That's exactly what it is."

All the three girls sighed in astonishment. "Seriously, I'll burn those damn things, Ino." Sakura declared coldheartedly.

"Yeah, you won't see...you know who..." Hinata whispered in her ear. Ino gawked at her statement and crossed her arms.

"It doesn't really matter though, he's basically a family friend so I can see him often." Ino turned her back away and swung her long, silky, blonde hair to her back, as she walked away, a hand waved out to them. "I gotta go. See you guys."

The remaining three said their good-byes and stayed quiet for a few minutes, as they all thought to themselves.

Suddenly, Sakura threw a large laugh at them, covering her mouth to hide away the embarassment.

"What's so funny?" Inquired Tenten, who pressed the corner of her cheek against her palm, her elbow lying on her knee.

"Yeah...is...is it about me?" Hinata paranoidly conjectured, eagerly staring at Sakura to hear what she was about to answer.

"You a good mind-reader." Sakura admitted, looking over to Tenten and continued to chuckle. "Remember that time when all the boys were leaving?"

"Yeah, of course I do."

"You do? Remember what Hinata did?" Sakura lowered the tone of her voice so lightly that from afar, it would look as though she mouthed them out instead.

"That...I don't recall..."

Sakura sighed as she leaned over and covered her conversation with her.

"Sakura, please don't tell her." Hinata politely urged her, tugging onto her shoulder. "SAKURA! Don't tell her! Please don't!"

Sakura ignored her pleading and resumed whispering to Tenten.

(Flashback)

_"N-Naruto?" Hinata softly called out, looking at his back as he stood there, motionless, his face facing the entrance to Konoha._

_He moved his head to the side, his curiosity rising up when he heard his name being mentioned by her. Making a complete half turn, he smiled at her. "Yeah, what is it Hinata?" _

**_OH NO! He's smiling at me! What should I do_? **_In return, Hinata pushed the corners of her mouth up and gave out a painful smile. **How's this smile? Is it okay?**_

Naruto raised his eyebrow and snickered, barely showing his moving mouth toward her since his hand hid it.

**_He's laughing! But why? _**Hinata hesitantly brought her lips down and frowned. _**It must've been that smile...crap! He must think that I look stupid right now!** "Are you going somewhere? I mean...you look like you're gonna go somewhere with all those things..."_

_Naruto brought his head back to look at his backpack and chuckled. "Oh, yeah. I'm not really sure where we're going to go but all I know is that we'll be gone for a while."_

_The next second, Hinata was full of interest in the subject and linked her hands together from behind her back. "How long is a while?"_

_"Hm?" Naruto was stimulated and thought as quickly as he could. "I think about two years or so..."_

_In Hinata's mind, she shrieked. "T-two years!" **I won't be able to see him for that long! I need to do something right before he leaves soon. I wanna do something memorable with him...something memorable and special...and that's something I don't have much memories of...**_

_"Hey Naruto! It's time to go!" Kiba yelled from a distance with Akamaru on top of his head. _

_Naruto looked away and waved a hand. "I'll be there in a sec." With his attention now on Hinata, he put both his hands on his hips as he smiled. "So, guess I won't be seeing you anytime soon. Sorry we couldn't hang out much before I left." He rubbed the back of his head, and clung on to the straps of his bag. "Well, see you Hinata!" He dismissed himself but then he was caught by a strong force that pulled him back. He quickly spun his head around, finding Hinata clinging unto his arm and her head resting against it. Naruto sighed. "Hinata...I really need to go now." _

_Hinata clung unto his arm harder, her heart feeling as though it was able to fall to pieces any moment. "I know but please...don't go..." Hinata's eyes widened as she repeated those words out without any thought. Instead of her mind telling her what to say, her heart decided to have its mind of its own. _

_Naruto chuckled, gently removing her hand off of his arm. "Hinata, I promise that when I come back we'll do more things together, okay? But now I really gotta go." Naruto's words came out quickly, almost making it sound like an entire word. He waved good-bye at her, leaving Hinata slightly heartbroken. _

_**Oh no! He's leaving! I just want to have something memorable between Naruto and me before he goes. For me to see him for about two years is hard enough...and I haven't even made one memory with him at all! **Without any hesitation, Hinata ran up to him, her arms opened wide and clutched his stomach from the front, tidbits of tears starting to form. "I'm sorry I'm slowing you down, but you didn't even make me say good-bye!" She sobbed, multiple tears falling down her cheeks and her nose beginning to drip. "Just let me say good-bye before you leave."_

_With a tiny bit of annoyance, Naruto sighed. "Okay then, say good-bye to me." He said awkwardly, his voice giving her the impression of how uncomfortably the situation was._

_"...good-bye?" Her voice quivered with an unsure tone. _

_"Okay, I'll be off then." _

_Hinata grabbed his hands and swung him toward her, her face at a nose-to-nose distance. Hinata gulped, her face turning red immediately. _

_"Hinata!" Naruto irritatedly shouted._

_"Just give me a second..." Hinata whispered to him, more tears falling from her eyes as she leaned her face in more and took sight of his lips. **Here goes! I hope that it isn't as bad as the smile...** Bringing her lips up with sucked in cheeks, she approached him slowly, aligning her lips with his._

_"Naruto! Hurry up!" Chouji yelled from a distance and continued munching on his chips. _

_**Here I go! **Hinata closed her eyes, her face feeling burning up more than ever. _

_"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute!" Naruto turned his head to the side as he yelled, causing Hinata to stumble forward, her lips kissing the air. _

_"What happened?" She asked herself. Ready to dive in for the next upcoming kiss, she swayed her head swiftly to the opposite side and puckered her lips toward his mouth, her lips kissing the air again, from Naruto continously rotating his head._

_"Uh, Hinata?" He questioned her, looking at the back of her head. "What are you doing?"_

_Hinata's heart began to race. **This time I'll get it right no matter what! **Shutting her eyes once again, she reached in to his face and tried her best to locate his mouth._

_Realizing that she was doing nothing of interest to her, he turned his back and walked away falling toward to the ground from an attack that came from behind him. From the fall, he felt an awkward feeling coming from behind as his face frowned._

_**I finally got it! **Hinata smiled to herself, her lips plastered tightly to him. **Hmm...I never knew Naruto had really big lips...**_

_Naruto laughed to himself and wiggled himself off of her. "Hinata, you know that you're kissing my ass, right?"_

_Hinata's eyes opened wide as she backed up from her position. **Great!I just happened to kiss him on a weird spot with my eyes closed! Stupid stupid Hinata! Never ever close your eyes next time! Idiot! **Hinata wiped her mouth with her sleeves and turned around, running away from him in great embarassment. "Bye, Naruto!" **I can't believe that I did that! I hope no one saw that...I really hope so...**Hinata stopped running when she reached the front entrance to the Hyuuga household, panting from exhaustion and humilation. Hinata laughed to herself , trying to rid the memory of what just happened. **Well...at least this memory is memorable...but not special in any way to me...Oh...I really screwed up!**_

(End Flashback)

Hinata blushed deep pink, listening to the other girls laugh hysterically at that memory. She covered her face with her hands and sighed, awaiting the moment Tenten and Sakura would stop laughing.

"Oh yeah! That was what happened at that time! I was laughing my ass off when that happened!" Tenten eyed Hinata who gave her a dangerous scowl. "Um...no offense, Hinata."

"All taken."

Sakura curved her arm up and tied it along Hinata's arm. "Seriously Hinata, I bet Naruto forgot all about that. So don't make a huge deal about it." She tried comforting her, her other hand covering her giggling face.

Hinata frowned, pouting childishly at her friend's remark. "...well...anyways, I think right now is when they are back. I know you two wouldn't want to be late."

"Now that I think about it, maybe I'll catch up with them later...some other day, okay? I'm kinda tired..." Tenten tiredly said, stretching out her arms and yawning vigorously. "I think I'll go now...and take a nap..."

"Okay then..." Hinata replied, having put on a dull face. "I guess Sakura can stay behind and come with me, right?"

Sakura face was straight and her lips were beginning to form a frown. "Actually, I think I'll pass this one too."

"Huh!" Hinata grumbled.

"I forgot to tell you my mom is sick and she needs my help. I said that I wouldgo before without even thinking it through. Sorry about this..." Sakura defined to her, her voice saying it in apology.

Hinata smiled softly at them. "That's alright. Maybe some other time...Too bad you can't see my cousin, Ten..."

Tenten's shoulders popped up. "I'll be at your place at eight tonight and I'll bring my things over. I'm staying the night."

"WHAT!"

Tenten grinned, hopping away from them. "SEE YOU! I'll be ready by then! Who knows, I might come two hours earlier!" They both watched her walk off, leaving the two dumbfounded.

Hinata brought an eyebrow up. "How about you, Sakura? You want to come over too?"

"My mom...but I don't know...maybe I'm allowed to go...hope she feels better..." Sakura answered, wearing a look of concern at her.

"I'll go check up at Ino's place and check if she is able to go..." Hinata commented, receiving a nod in approvement.

"Well, see you!" Sakura ran off, Hinata later off walking away as well.

* * *

I'm going to cut it short off here. I really need to make shorter chappies...I think that I write way too much in my stories...so yeah...the next chappie will be about the sleepover and in it...there's a big surprise shocking the girls there...

Right now, I feel tired cause I just woke up from a 2-hour nap...gah...Everyday I stay up to like 3:30 in the morning...don't ask me why...lol

Well...please read and review this story so far!

-XiaoyuKaede


	2. What is FUN?

Okay I'll admit that I'm happy that I got 5 reviews. But this morning was in an angry state cause my sister invited 3 of her friends 11 in the morning. I woke up 30 minutes earlier and I was watching TV…fairly oddparents…but then the sound wasn't working…so I decided to watch a dvd instead…and so I went upstairs to get Princess Mononoke but the disc wasn't inside of its case so I went to her room to see if she knew where it was…but then she was talking to her friends and my mom (earlier on today, the phone rang like 10 times and it got me so annoyed…grr…)… and she barely paid any attention to me! Older sisters do that….ignorance…gah…I hate it…and so I started punching her door (even though my knuckles were hurting…lol) and just started yelling her…and after she was done talking on the phone, I asked her what she was talking about and then she said that her friends were coming over soon. I was like, "Dammit, I didn't even take a shower yet!" "Help me clean the house. They'll be coming at 11." "What! It's 10: 55! I'm still eating breakfast!" "Just help me clean the house!" and then I screamed so loud my throat hurt. "NO!" "Fine then, don't help…"….but then I helped her clean the house anyway….yeah…here's my story….lol...i hate cleaning up my house...especially my room...grr...lol

Thanx 2:

Frienz4ever

YinYang-Animal

Punk-neko-gurl

Wind Scythe

...and aishiteru yaoi...who actually just chatted with me rather than give me a review...you're never on messenger anymore...!

---you guys are so nice!

* * *

Disclaimer: I will never ever own Naruto….:( boo…hooo….lol

* * *

_Ring! Ring! _The doorbell sang annoyingly, while Hinata ran over to answer it. As she slowly opened it, she caught a glimpse of Sakura who had a sleeping bag in hand and her own backpack, carrying all of her clothes and other items. "Oh hi, Sakura!" Hinata greeted happily, grabbing hold of her items and brought them inside, Sakura being left empty-handed.

"I never thought that my mom would actually be okay after that illness of hers..." Sakura stated, stepping into her house, her eyes traveling at every direction. She gasped in astonishment and stood there, exasperated. "My God, Hinata. This is your house?" Her voice giving out a sign of jealousy.

Hinata threw at her a look of boredom. "Yeah. It's nothing really..."

"'Nothing really'..." Sakura restated, standing behind Hinata who led her toward her bedroom. "It's something...I mean it's a mansion..."

Hinata laughed at her friend's statement. Turning the knob to her room open, she kicked it, budging it as she made the door open ajar with Tenten being overtly seen inside, lying on her bed. "Hey Sakura." Tenten said from inside, without interest.

Sakura sighed as she shook her head. "As expected from Tenten...you're already here." Closing the door from behind her, she approached her, hopping unto the bed as the two girls jumped upward from the action. "What time did you come anyway?"

Tenten grinned innocently as Hinata instead answered for her. "She came when I arrived home. She was just standing near the front door like some idiot."

Tenten wore alook of irritation at her. "Hey!"

"But then, you know Ten...the obsessed retarded fangirl who likes stalking your cousin..." Sakura added, her asperity started to boot up. "Make sure when they are somehow in a room together, that she doesn't molest him or something..."

In vexation, Tenten glared at the two of them, her voice tone lowered down deep. "You guys do know that I'm sitting right here right?"

"That reminds me, Hinata...is he here yet?" Sakura questioned, giggling at Tenten's childish expression.

Hinata nodded, Tenten's eyes sprung up as she stared at her in desperation. Tenten gulped as she continued to remain silent to hear what she had to say about the topic. "He's right over there." Hinata pointed out toward the window where his bedroom window was at, his room illuminated with his room light. Her bedroom and his bedroom were divided by a thin lawn, making his room located on the other side of the household. (a/n: house is like an "L" shape)"I think he's in his room right now, but he could be somewhere else."

Slyly, Sakura poked Hinata on the shoulder. "Do you ever spy on him sometimes? You know exactly where his room's at...and it's nighttime..." She chortled lightly, Hinata's face growing red.

Hinata quickly turned her face away off to the side, her breath currently taken away. "N-no! What makes you think I do that anyway? He's my cousin!"

Sakura laughed to herself as Hinata was left embarrassed and Tenten's face turning somber. Instantly, Sakura ceased her laughter and sighed. "Seriously, you guys can't take a joke...Ino really needs to be here..."

"She can't...she's busy." Hinata explained, bending her knee joints at the same time as she sat down on the ground, her arms stretched out in front of her knees as they hugged her legs.

Tenten squinted, already knowing the answer. "Flower shop?"

Hinata nodded simply, Sakura tieing up her hair in a ponytail. "I'll burn those damn things..." The pink haired girl hissed.

Suddenly not far from the girls, loud clamors were heard outside of the window while the three girls were silent. Hastily, Tenten, Sakura, and Hinata rushed over to the window and caught sight of Neji in his room, standing there, looking downward in front of his desk. Every time his attention went off from looking down, he smiled pleasantly while he turned around.

"Hey Hinata, is there someone there in his room right now? It looks as though he's talking to someone..." Sakura said to her friend, removing her hands off of the window pane.

Tenten gasped and took hold of Hinata's arms. "There's someone in there, right?" Tenten asked, shaking her violently as she watched Hinata's head bob upward and downward. "Tell me, dammit!"

"I-I...d-don't...k-know!" Hinata's voice wasn't able to maintain her steadiness asher words came out just barely clear.

Tenten slowed down her pace then suddenly released her, sticking her lower lip outward. "I swear...if it's a girl in there...I'll rip that bitch's head off..."

Sakura and Hinata gulped cautiously and backed up as their friend began to turn red in infuriation. "T-Ten...um...how about I just go and check up on him...you know...and see who it is over there?" Hinata nervously insisted, her hands failing to remain still.

Tenten's eyes bulged out and she hopped in their air several times. "Oh you will? Okay then, now go." She commanded, pushing Hinata out of her door as she laughed to herself.

Sakura leaned against the wall, sighing to herself as she watched Tenten give out a maniacal laugh.

* * *

"Maybe I should stop by the kitchen and grab some snacks first...and that way, Neji won't think that it's weird for me to barge into his room like this without having any apparent reason...just in case if there is someone in the room right now...I can offer them something to eat..." 

As she walked in solitude and silence toward the kitchen, she quietly opened the door and switched on the light, running over to the pantry and took outa bag ofpopcorn and a couple of water bottles. Taking what she had now, she placed them on the table and took a tray, picking up the items that she had on them, as she once again ran into the pantry and took out some sweets out. Removing the wrapper off of the popcorn bag, she placed the popcorn in the microwave as she opened up a cabinet door and brought out a bowl. In the next 3 minutes that she waited for the popcorn to cook, she organized all of the food on the tray and poured out all the popcorn in the bowl. Having all of the things that she planned of, she laid the tray into her hands and exited the kitchen.

"Okay, now I have all of the food ready." She declared to herself, walking through the corridor with ease. As she made her way to turn a corner, a person with spiky, blonde hair crashed into her, causing all of the items on her tray fall off. Picking up all of the items in haste, she walked over to the person she had bumped into and flung a hand at that person. "Sorry about that. I was dozing off just then..."

"No, it wasn't. I was in a hurry to go to the bathroom and ran into you." The person replied, using Hinata's hand as an aid to lift him off. "H-Hinata?"

Her ears tingled at the sound of her name and she faced the unknown person as she tried to examine his face in the poor lighting of the hallway. After taking a thorough look at the person she backed a few steps away and blushed. "Naruto?" She resumed staring at him in awkwardness and felt her cheeks begin to blush. She scrutinized him, as she tried to clarify if this was really the same Naruto that she fell head-over-heels for. "W-why...are you here?" She inquired. He wore a white tank and black shorts and walked around bare-footed with his hair, spiked up more than usual.

Naruto scratched his head and inhaled a tiny bit of air. "I'm staying the night." Feeling his belly whine, he stomped his feet rapidly on the ground and turnedhis pacified face into a constipated one. "Uh...can you tell me where the bathroom is Hinata? I really, really gotta go..."

Hinata blushed and pointed further downward the hall. "Just keep going straight and take your second right."

Naruto sped down the hallway and carried out her directions. "Talk to you later! But I really need to go!"

Watching him run off in a hurry, Hinata giggled to herself, as she continued to head to her cousin's room. Upon her arrival, she gently knocked the door as she waited for someone in the room to open it. In not even a second, the door opened slightly, showing the face of Neji.

Carrying a look of inquisition, he looked at the tray then up at her, sighing tiredly as a group of voices were heard from inside. "Yeah Hinata?" He asked, resting his back on the door.

"I noticed that there were people in your room...and so I was wondering if any of them would like to have anything to eat or drink."

Turning his head away, Neji looked at the group of people in his room and yelled out loud, making sure that his voice rose over theirs. "Hey you bastards! You want anything to eat or something?"

"No." They all replied in unison.

Neji returned his glance back at his cousin. "You heard them."

Hinata's heart suddenly began to race. "Um...who exactly is there...may I ask?" She stiffened up her back and patiently waited.

"Hey Neji. Who the hell is at the door anyway?" A voice called out to him.

Grabbing hold of the side of the door, Neji pushed the door entirely open, showing everyone there who it was. Hinata stood there frozen as she looked at everyone in the room with uneasiness.

"Oh! Hey Hinata! Haven't seen you in a while." Kiba remarked, a wide smile aiming at her.

"Yeah hey, Hinata..." Shikamaru lazily greeted, lying on his back as he yawned with a hand over his mouth.

"Hey." Sasuke and Sai said together, with no facial expression.

"Long time no see, Hinata." Lee welcomed, waving a hand at her.

"Yeah. Looks like you haven't gotten any fatter." Chouij stated, tilting his bag of chips up as she allowed the chips slide down to his mouth.

"Hi...everyone..." She shyly said, her face becoming beet red. "I need to get out of here..." She whispered to herself. Gazing around the room, the closest exit she found that headed to her room in an instant was the window. Quickly running over toward her destination, she jumped up to stick her feet on the window pane, as she tried to get out of the room. Dashing herself forward, she thumped her head loudly on the window and fell on her back on the ground.

Everyone in the room looked strangely at her as she lied there in shock.

"Hinata," Neji began, shaking his head. "You're supposed to unlock it first. Don't you know how to open a window?"

Hinata nodded as she lifted herself up. "Y-yeah, but I thought that it was opened already..."

"Next time look."

She stood up shakily and opened the window lock as she exited his room with the tray. Making her way, across the streak of grass in the middle, she knocked on her bedroom window, forcing Tenten and Sakura to jump. Hinata continued knocking on it, telling her friends to open the window.

"What took you so long?" Asked Tenten, taking away the tray from her. "...and why did you come out from that way?"

Hinata fell to her bed and sighed, covering her eyes in sheer embarrassment. "It turns out all the boys that came back today are in his room...also, they'resleeping over..."

Sakura shrieked as she rushed over to the window. "So you mean...Sasuke's there as well?"

Hinata also looked away to the window. "Yeah, I even ran into Naruto in the hallway...I couldn't talk to him much though because he had to go to the bathroom...he must've had diarrhea of something..." She declared, recallinghis face of constipationthat he had worn while he was talking to her.

"You mean, Neji's there too?" Tenten asked, clasping her hands together as she pressed them against her cheek.

Hinata and Sakura stared at her oddly. "He lives here, you retard." Sakura commented, rolling her eyes.

Tenten chuckled to herself, popping up her mouth for the popcorn to enter through. Taking the popcorn bowl in her hands, she went to the window and stared out at Neji's room. She sighed as she dropped the bowl toward the ground. Sakura and Hinata blinked innocently at her and looked out the window with her. "Neji really looks different than before..." She daydreamed, pressing her face on the palm of her hand. "He looks way more cuter than before..."

Sakura rolled her eyes and snatched the popcorn bowl away as she sat beside Tenten. "He still looks the same." Laying out her entire hand out in the bowl, she scooped upa handful of them and picked them out one-by-one. "I don't know what you actually see in a guy like him..."

Tenten growled, taking away the bowl away from Sakura. "Shut up." After that, she focused her eyes at him again. At that moment, all three girls closely watched him as Neji stood there, facing his friends and slipped off his undershirt, showing off all his muscles that he exercised on his stomach and arms.

"Hey Sakura, Ten, you two want to do something else?" Hinata questioned.

"Shush!" Tenten hushed, frequently stuffing more popcorn into her mouth. "This part is getting good..." She drooled, her arm resting on the pane. "Yeah baby, take off those clothes for me...c'mon! Strip! Strip! Strip for me, baby!" She shouted, whistling at him.

Both girls stared at her in astonishment. "Luckily, he wasn't able to hear that..." Hinata said, her eyebrows lowered down in vexation.

"Who the hell are you and where is the real Tenten?" Sakura tackled her to the ground and anchored her arm around her neck.

"What the hell, Sakura! Let go of me!" Tenten exclaimed, flapping her arms and legs out as she struggled to free herself.

Sakura released her and sighed, my hands out on her lap. "Maybe your just really horny right now..."

"Yeah, since when did you ever act like that anyway?" Hinata eyed her and Tenten ignored them, looking back at him.

"Isn't he gorgeous?" She continued daydreaming, wiping off the drool dripping from her mouth.

"That's a rhetorical question right?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Sakura, Hinata, let's go in closer." Tenten requested, pushing the window open and quietly getting herself out of the room.

"WHAT?" They yelled in unison. But the two of them finally gave in, pursuing the addicted Tenten. They both went over to where Tenten was, who was ducking her head below Neji's window.

"Oh my God, Ten? Can you get anymore creepy?" Sakura asked her, but received a punch on the arm by her.

* * *

"Hey Neji," Naruto spoke, rubbing his back. "Can you open up the window? It's really hot in here." 

Neji rolled his eyes and pointed his thumb behind him. "If you're gonna bitch about it then go and open it yourself. Just because I live here doesn't mean I have to do these requests you guys give me. Do it yourself."

In enragement, Naruto rose to his feet and marched over to the window, pushing it forward as the window tilted sideways.

* * *

"DAMN! You guys, duck down!" Tenten commanded, pressing her friends' heads down as she lowered her head down as well. 

Naruto took in a deep breath as he enjoyed the refreshing air cleanse his mind. "This smells good..." He admitted, walking away with a wide grin.

All the girls lifted their heads and eerily gazed up at the window. "Did...did Naruto take his shorts off or something?" Sakura spoke softly, her eyebrow twitching uneasily.

"I think he didn't have any bottoms on..." Tenten added, staring out in shock.

"N-Naruto?" Hinata stared at the wall in petrification, unintentionally flashing back the memory.

Sakura grumbled, sticking her head up more above the window. "Just what the hell do they think they're doing in there?"

Hinata and Tenten shrugged their shoulders.

"W-wha-what if they're doing it?" Hinata guessed, her chin cupped by her hand.

Tenten looked dumbfoundedly at her. "Doing it?"

"Yeah."

"What do you mean by that?"

Sakura's heart thumped hard against her chest. "You mean...they're homosexuals?" She gulped, praying with all her heart that it wasn't plausible.

Tenten fell back, sitting on the grass, stunned with disbelief. "Oh God...I'm in love with a guy that is in love with guys..."

Hinata shook her head. "No wait! That can't be true! There has to be some other reason..."

"Truth is, Naruto has his pants off and Neji took off his shirt...they're definately doing it..."

Tenten and Hinata stared at each other appalled and shrieked, clinging unto each other. "Damn! I loved a guy for more than half of my life and he didn't even pay attention to girls!" Tenten screamed, crying horrifically.

* * *

"Hey guys, do you hear something?" Chouji asked, throwing a chip into his mouth as he munched on it. 

Lee paused for a moment and looked at the window. "Now that you mention it...I think that there's someone out of the window."

"So I guess I wasn't the only one hearing things was I?" Sai commented, taking off his shirt.

"I'll go ahead and check on it." Naruto volunteered once again, rising up from his seat and heading toward the window.

* * *

"Hinata! Ten! Quiet down! They'll hear us!" Sakura reminded them as they shook in fright of the thought of their new discovery. 

"I-I can't believe that it's true!" Tenten whined as she let go of Hinata and lied her head on her laps.

"I really like him too!" Hinata cried out, wiping away several tears forming in her eyes.

"Uh..." A coarse, childish voice called out. "What are you three doing down here?" Naruto stuck his head out of the window, his face filled with consternation.

Sakura jumped up from her spot and dusted herself off. "Oh nothing...this is our little secret hiding spot, that's all..."

"Sakura!" Naruto's eyes were dazzled as he looked at her. "WOW! You look so different now!"

Tenten and Hinata had risen from their spots and stood beside Sakura, realizing that they had no point in hiding anymore. "Tenten! That's you? You look great!" Naruto complimented. Apparently at that moment he couldn't stop being filled with so many surprises. "Why don't you guys come on in?"

Tenten sighed. "Sure, why not?" She replied drowsily as she climbed into the window and entered through, Hinata, and Sakura following after her.

When inside the room, all three girls stayed nearby the window, not daring to near themselves close to the boys.

"Hey Sakura! Ten! How are you guys doing?" Kiba questioned, lifting his hand up in the air, as he wore no shirt and shorts.

All the girls shivered at the sight of them and sticked themselves close to each other. Apparently, all the boys were not entirely clothed--Shikamaru wearing no shorts, Chouji wearing no shirt (making the girls freaked at the sight), Sasuke wearing no shorts and shirt, Sai having nothing on but his shirt (covered his "thing" with a pillow), and Lee, wearing nothing at all (covered his "thing" as well).

Sakura couldn't help but wonder and so blurted out her inquire. "Um...why are you guys...missing some clothing?"

Tenten crunched her finger with her other hand to take out her inner anger. "Yeah...what's going on in here?"

Chouji laughed from the girl's reaction and explained. "We're playing strip poker."

Suddenly, all the girls sighed in relief but in a few seconds were back in their tense state. "Wait, isn't that game supposed to be played with girls and boys? That game isnot supposed to beonly forboys!" Sakura proclaimed, her knees trembling.

Tenten wrapped her thumb under her fingers and brought her hands up to her face, feeling frustrated. "Geez...damn it! We knew it! You guys are a bunch of homos! You faggots!" She spat out, pointing at them in anger.

Shikamaru raised his eyebrow. "We're gay?"

Sakura stuck a finger at them. "HAH! See you guys are in denial!" Lowering her eyes into little streaks, she deepened her voice. "Just admit it, you guys are madly in love with each other!"

"Yeah!" Hinata backed her up, glaring at them with ferocious eyes.

Sasuke stared at them while they resumed piquing toward them. Looking at Naruto, he contemplated at him. "Great dumbass. You invited the yaoi fangirls in here...Bastard..."

Naruto returned him a look of frustration at him. "Hey! I didn't know that they would say something like this!"

"Look," Kiba began to explain. "Playing strip poker with guys doesn't mean anything and it doesn't make us gay."

"What he said." Neji's eyes ran over to them, his face more serious than ever. "We're just playing this game for our own fun."

"Fun?" Tenten repeated. "How can you call that fun when you guys are stripping in front of guys!Y-you masturbators! Once that person is naked, you plan to have your own self pleasure, don't you?" She screamed out.

"W-wait hold o--" Naruto shouted out.

"You sick bastards..." Sakura swore, her jaw dropped as low as it was able to manage.

"Naruto...I never thought that you would be that kind of person..." Hinata stated dramatically, wiping off the tears dripping off from her eyes.

Sai looked away and took a deep breath. "The reason we played this game was for a joke...we didn't want to go to far as to have someone in the nude."

"Oh yeah." Hinata placed her hands on her hips. "How about Lee over there?" She retorted.

Sai looked Lee's way and shook in shock. "...that I didn't even notice..."

Tenten rolled her eyes from what he answered her.

"Can we please hurry up and finish this game?" Lee asked, blushing hard from the fact that three girls were in the room. "I really want to put my clothes on right now."

That moment, all the girls calmed down, especially Sakura and Tenten, who were convinced from Lee that it was all just a joke.

"I think we'll go ahead and go back to my room..." Hinata stated, dismissing her and her friends, but were stopped by Kiba who called out to them.

"Why are you girls going to go for? We just ended the first game...and the second one needs to include women this time..."

Sakura's eyes bulged out from his remark and she formed her hand into a fist as she yelled. "STAY AWAY, YOU DAMN RAPISTS!"After that, Hinata, Tenten, and Sakura returned back to Hinata's room, left with utter disgust.

* * *

Okie dokie! Here's the 2nd chappie to my story...I hope you guys like it! 

Geez...I'm really tired right now...yawns well yeah...I'm gonna go to sleep now...hmmm...2:33 AM...looks like I'm making improvements on my sleeping schedule...yeah...an hour earlier...lol...anyways...buh bye!

NEXT CHAPPIE:

WITH INO NOT HAVING THE CHANCE TO REUNITE WITH HER OLD FRIENDS, SHE SOMEHOW FINDS HERSELF ON A DATE WITH SHIKAMARU BUT WHEN SHE IS FINALLY HANGING OUT WITH HIM, WILL SHECHANGE ALL HER THOUGHTS ABOUT HIM?...

MEANWHILE, HINATA HAS TOLD A SECRET TO SAKURA, TENTEN, AND INO THAT SHE HAS A CRUSH ON A GUY IN THE GROUP OTHER THAN NARUTO...AND IN ORDER TO GET RID OF HIM FROM HER LOVE LIST...SHE HAS TO GO ON A DATE WITH HIM...TO SEE IF THIS CRUSH OF HERS IS REALLY TRUE LOVE OR NOT!

yuppers, that's all for now people...till the third chappie...bye!

-XiaoyuKaede


	3. Love, Unnoticed

Since I am officially "old" enough to take those pills used for nutrition…I have to take them, cause my dad forces me too…Really, the only reason I don't like to a swallow those things is because I think that they are way to big to swallow…(just call me a wimp)…My dad says that it's either up to me whether or not I chew them or swallow them and of course you know which one that I picked…chewing…I mean, It's easier than just drinking water and taking the pill, right? The point is that the reason why you swallow the pill is so you can't taste it and since I chewed it…you can't even imagine how disgusting the taste is…it really gave mea bad aftertaste a few minutes later and it lasted like that until morning…ew…I have to take two kinds of those pills…one that taste like fish…don't ask what it is made out of…and an ordinary vitamin (ever heard of CENTURY?)…Just the other day, I was walking in the hallway when my dad called out to me to see if I took my vitamins. "Uh…no…" and I just stood there, my dad right behind me. Then he said, "Go downstairs and take it now." I just stood there, without moving and groaned. I really didn't want to take it as you can see… "Go down and take them." After that, I did move and I ran to the room next to me and closed the door, as I tried to escape from my dad…and after that, he left me alone and I didn't have to take them! YAY!

--P.S. That room that I ran into is the room that I'm in right now…typing up my stories and all…yeah and after that, I was on the computer typing….:D

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own this series...

* * *

"INO!" Inoichi yelled from down below, his voice playing back in her head as she continued to lie on her bed, partially awake, "INO!" 

Ino didn't reply, grumbling as she covered her ears with a pillow that her head was currently on.

"INO!" Her dad repeated again, his voice tone beginning to form a screech in his voice.

In annoyance, Ino jolted from her bed, angrily throwing her pillow over toward the wall. On the edge of her bed, she thumped her feet on the ground, her feet trying to locate her sleepers as she moaned. "...what that hell does he want?" Yawning tiredly, she grabbed hold of the knob on her door and twisted it lightly, her dad's voice reverberating in the hallway as he called out again.

"Damn it, Ino! Get up!" He shouted, his voice showing a bit of strictness.

Ino stuck her lips out, blowing air upward to hit the bangs covering her eyes. "I'm coming!" _God dad, just be more patient...it's still early morning..._ Placing her hand on the railing of the stairway, she stopped in the middle of the stairs, sighing deeply to find her dad staring up at her with two men behind him, both their attention elsewhere. "What dad?"

Inoichi chuckled. "Heh, so you're awake now?"

"What does it look like to you?" She retorted sarcastically, crossing her arms. She squinted her eyes closely, trying to adjust her vision sharper to see who were the two men behind her dad. Both men had black hair that was pulled up in a high ponytail, wore a green vest with a black undershirt and black pants. _Hey...they look familiar...especially the shorter one... "_Um...dad...who are those people behind you anyway?" Ino finally asked, the strangers looking her way after her statement. "OH MY GOD!"

Inoichi shook his head in astonishment, with a powerful frown. "What is so surprising anyway? It's just Shikaku and his kid, Shikamaru."

Ino's heart skipped a beat as she didn't bother to take her eyes off of Shikamaru. Right then, Ino was finally awake, her eyes and thoughts stuck at the sight of him.

"Ino, it's rude to stare..." Her dad reminded her, shaking Ino off her hypnotism. "If you're asking why they're here, it's that me and Shikaku are going to be gone for a few days and Shikamaru is going to stay here for the time when we are away."

Ino's mind had wanted herself to faint at his explanation, but she refused, regaining her control as she gripped the railing. "But dad..." She began to argue, even though she had thought of this moment as a gift from heaven. "You're saying that Shikamaru and I have to stay here all by ourselves without anyone here for a few days?"

Inoichi raised an eyebrow, as he wondered why this was such a large issue for his daughter. "There's nothing wrong with that." Looking over to Shikaku, he gave a grin and smiled back at him, leaving Ino and Shikamaru full of curiousity. Inoichi went back at staring at his daughter in all seriousness. "He's a friend of yours, anyway. So a girl and boy staying together who are close friends isn't anything criminal."

Shikamaru growled, poking his dad with his elbow. "Is this some kind of conspiracy for me to get a girlfriend, dad?"

Shikaku glared at him. "You think that this was planned out for that objective? We really need to go somewhere and since your mom and her mom aren't here either, you'll stay with her so you two can have each other's company."

"The hell witih that." Shikamaru fought back, rolling his eyes. He looked at Ino who eyed him eagerly. "There's no way I'm gonna stay alone with this bitcher for a few days, dad."

"I thought you liked those type of girls."

Shikamaru breathed in a large amount of air. "That's you, dad."

Ino watched the two of them argue, a smile creeping up on the corners of her mouth. "Is he going to stay here starting today?"

Inoichi nodded and picked up Shikamaru's luggage. "Place this in your room, Ino."

Ino rubbed her ears and hid the hair covering her ears behind it. "Come again, dad?"

"Put it in your room, Ino." He repeated, his voice rising loud enough her to hear clearly.

Ino gasped, taking away that luggage away from her dad. "But dad! Where am I going to sleep then?"

"What are you talking about? You're not going anywhere. You two are staying in the same room."

Shikamaru gulped, shaking his head in appallation. "There's no doubt that this is a conspiracy..."

Shikaku looked at his son and pushed him forward to the stairway, forcing him to go up to his new room. "Go on and stop complaining."

"Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you guys anyway?" Shikamaru asked them, having a bothersome feeling that they weren't going to give him a truthful answer.

They both ignored him and walked toward the front door. "Have fun!" The grown men said in unison, the frontdoor slamming a huge echo throughout the house.

Shikamaru looked at Ino with a face full of questions. "What did they mean by that?"

Ino blushed and took her eye contact off of his. "Nevermind that." Without any trouble, she easily carried the bag of luggage to the top of the stairs and settled it down in her room. "You didn't bring much clothes in this, did you?"

Shikamaru gazed up in his room, making Ino think that he ignored her question. "Ithink I lost some of my clothing in the Hyuuga's place."

Ino tugged the edge of her blanket and flapped it out, allowing it to straighten itself out of all the crumples and flattened it with her hands when it touched the bed. "So this is like your second sleepover in a row then, huh?" Suddenly she shook, her mind replaying that answer he gave out to her. "...you lost some of your clothing in the Hyuuga's place? What do you mean by that?"

Shikamaru raised his eyebrows as a sign of confusion."What are you saying? I lost my clothes in the Hyuuga's place. Take those words and think about them for a moment..."

Ino had a face of consternation. "How could you have lost your clothes there?"

"..Oh...me and the guys were playing strip poker." He said calmly, Ino having the opposite expression.

"HUH?" Ino murmured, tucking the hair in front of her ears behind them.

Shikamaru shook his head. "We were playing strip poker." He repeated, tired of himself saying the same things over and over again.

That moment, Ino walked backwards toward a corner and remained in shock. "A-are you guys gay or something?"

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU GIRLS CALLING US GAY?" Shikamaru shouted furiously. "...even your friends were calling us that as well..."

"But that's seriously wrong! Guys don't strip in front of guys!" Ino screamed in horror.

Shikamaru let out a large amount of his breath. "Get it through your head, we're not gay!"

Ino stood there, surprised. "...you guys are like...half gay then?"

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose up in anger. "Dammit! Girls like you are so annoying! It was just a game...that's all that it was..."

"Oh..." Was all the Ino had replied for her answer. "Hungry? I'll make breakfast." Ino randomly changed the topic and headed out the door, back downstairs to the kitchen.

Shikamaru stared out the door as if he was stunned. "Damn it dad, you and you're stupid ideas..."

* * *

" Bye Ten, Sakura! I'll see you later today, okay?" Hinata waved a hand at her friends as she greeted them off in front of the doorsteps of her home. 

Sakura waved a hand at her, stopping her tracks as she scurried over back to Hinata. "You know that you're gonna do that thing today, right?" She reassured, making her friend's face thump red.

"B-but it's not like I have to do it!" She fought back, hoping that Sakura would give up her urging.

"Hinata, you do realize that it's a must, right?" Tenten clarified, walking back to her friends. "You have to do it, today."

Hinata's legs shook unsteadily. "Why not tomorrow or any other day?"

"Cause if you don't..." Tenten hissed, her voice lowering down. "I'll rip your head off..." She threatened, punching Hinata on the arm, to show that she had somewhat meant it.

Hinata gulped, her legs becoming more unstable.

In anger and irritation, Sakura punched Tenten on the arm. "Ten, don't actually kill her, okay?"

Tenten whined childishly as she rubbed her hands on the spot that Sakura had struck. "Fine, in other words...it's better to do things right away then later..."

Sakura glared at her. "You're just saying that so he's all yours, right?"

Tenten scoffed. "Damn right. No one's taking him from me!" She spat, walking off ahead.

Sakura put her hand on Hinata's arm as her legs ceased movement. "You know, I think that it's for the best anyway. Meet us by the park an hour earlier, okay? You already said to him that you'd meet him by Ichiraku Ramen so...by being an hour early, me and Ten can get ready for your guy's little date. See you!" Sakura ran off with Tenten and walked away from Hinata's sight.

Hinata sighed deeply, as she did her best to slow down her heartbeat's pace.

(Flashback)

_"Um...Sakura...Ten..." Hinata quietly stated, lying on her bed in the pitch black room of hers. She waited several seconds, her thoughts convincing her that both of them were already asleep._

_"What is it, Hinata?" Sakura drowsily asked, covering her eyes with her hand. Sitting up from her sleeping bag, she looked toward the direction of Hinata's bed, even though the darkness had clouded her sight. _

_Hinata suddenly became silent, as though she didn't hear a thing. "...uh...I have something to tell you...but promise you won't tell anyone, okay?"_

_"Hinata...please be quiet..." Tenten sleepily remarked, turning her back to the other side. "I'm really tired right now...I need to sleep..."_

_Hinata ignored her statement and continued saying what her mind had forced her to proclaim. "I think...I think that I like...Neji..."_

_Tenten sat up abruptly and turned on the light, her hair frizzed up from lying in bed. "Did you say something?" She said dangerously. "Do you like your cousin! My God, Hinata! What's wrong with you?"_

_Hinata gulped, looking down at her fingertips to find her hands quivering slightly. "I know...it's stupid. But--"_

_Sakura burst out in laughter. "What's stupid'll be your children, Hinata!" She resumed laughing uncontrollably, her face turning red fom excitement._

_Tenten and Hinata stared at her strangely not exactly understanding her joke, forcing Sakura to stop her laughing. "...you know...people that have kids with blood-relatives usually have stupid children..."_

_Tenten growled from within herself and stomped over to Hinata. "There's no way incest is ever gonna happen to your family, got that?" She shouted, her words, echoing throughout the entire room. "Especially with Neji...he's mine!"_

_"What's incest?" Hinata innocently asked, scratching her head in confusion._

_"It's when you and your relatives go to the same bedroom and 'things' happen." Sakura briefly justified, giggling to herself._

_Hinata shrieked as she coveredher mouth to lower down the volume."I'm sorry! But I can't help it when I like someone!" Hinata explained, Tenten shocked as ever. _

_"You have Naruto!" Tenten stared at her angrily. "One is all that you need."_

_Sakura lied down back in her sleeping bag and watched the two have their quarrel. Placing her hands behind her head, she rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just take him out on a date tomorrow, Hinata?"_

_Tenten and Hinata stared at her way. "WHAT?" They screamed in unison._

_"Have you gone mental too, Sakura?" Tenten inquired, rushing over to her other friend and shook her desperately. "Hinata shouldn't go out and have a date with her cousin! That's just disgusting..."_

_Sakura removed the hands off her shoulders and crossed her arms, as she tried to justify her explanation. "I'm guessing that Hinata likes him only as a crush, right Hinata?" _

_Hinata sat in her bed, motionless. "I don't really know."_

_"So..." Sakura continued, sounding matter-o-factly. "If she were to go on a date with him, she'll be able to see whether or not she feels that strong about Neji. If she just thinks of him as a crush, then it's no big deal but if she finds out that she likes him for real...now, that a big issue..."_

_Tenten moved her arms behind her back as she crossed her fingers. "I hope to God, that it's just a crush Hinata...because realizing that you love your cousin too much isn't something that happens..." Tenten grabbed her hair and tugged on it a little. "Ugh...I don't even want to imagine what you guys would do if you..."did it"."_

_"Ten, don't even think about that..." Sakura told her friend, turning off the light._

_Hinata looked down on her blanket and ran her hand along it. "I hope that it's just a crush..."_

(End Flashback)

_

* * *

_

So..." Ino gently started to say. "Did you miss me?" Taking a sip of tea, her hands held it around, feeling the warmth surround every corner of her palms.

Shikamaru took a bite out of his toast as he sat sideways, only half of his face being shown to her. Looking at Ino with the corner of his eye, he grunted. "What's there to miss?"

Ino glumly scrutinized him, pouring her cup of tea at his face. "What the hell do you mean by that? Didn't you miss me at all? Did you even think of me?" Ino joyfully watched Shikamaru jolt upward out of his seat and wiped off the burning tea off his face.

"Damn it! Why'd you do that for?" Shikamaru inquired, infuriated. Grabbing a napkin on the table, he rubbed off the remaining liquid on his face, his face still stinging from the burn.

Ino whisked her finger from side-to-side as the legs of her chair screeched against the floor. Walking over to him, she poured a vase of cold water on top of his head. "Does that feel better now?" She taunted, slamming the empty water vase on the table. "Well...at least you can say that you took a shower already..."

Shikamaru grabbed her arm strongly, Ino falling forward to him. As their faces were nose-to-nose, he began to speak softly but alsowith a large amount of strictness. "Just what the hell is wrong with you? I didn't do anything to provoke you and now you're doing all of this crap."

He gripped the upper part of her arm harder as he was able tofeelher bonein his grasp,with Ino showing a face of pain as he tightened his hold. Her eyes were glued shut and her teeth bit her lower lip as he strengthened his grasp, the bone in her arm beginning to feel as though it was about to be crushed into pieces. He severed his hand away from her arm, as he continued to view a hurt face from her. As soon as he let go of her, tears were forming out of her eyes, as she looked down at the ground, trying her best to hide away the tears falling down her nose.

Ino swung her head away, rushing over to the stairway as she covered her injured arm with her hand. Stomping from up above the staircase, she ran to her room and banged her door, loud enough that the entire house had shook.

Shikamaru massaged the back of his neck, reviewing everything that had just occured. "I was so close to snapping the bone in her arm if I just tightened it a bit more harder..." He sighed to himself, slowly making his way to the stairs, as he thought of a way to apologize. At her door, he sat with his back against it, finding that it was no use in knocking if she wasn't even going to let him inafter all that. "Hey." His elbow thud on the door, waiting for her to respond. "Hey." This time, he banged his elbow twice, hoping that sometime she would answer him. She didn't reply and continued to let her room be left in silence.

"Hey, Ino...I'm sorry..." He spoke gently, close enough to be whisper.

He rested both his arms on his knees, laying his head back on the door. Taking in a large breath of air, he lowered down his head and thought for a moment of what he would say next.

"...if I hurt you...I really didn't mean to do that...I guess...I was just...overreacting..."

Apparently to him, forming apologizes didn't come to mind as easily as calculating everything else with that intellect of his. He let out a breath of air and then sighed.

"...I'm sorry that I made you cry..." He suddenly reminisced the look of pain she cried out and he brought his head up at the ceiling. "...and I'm sorry that I'm such a jackass..."

From inside, he heard sudden movement and plugged his ear over to the door. "...and if you are actually listening to me to everything that I'm saying..." Aware of the fact that Ino was nearby the door, he grinned. "...I'll be happy to take you anywhere you like to go today...just you and me..."

At that moment, he figured that all those words weren't exactly coming out of his mind, it was as though his those words came outdecided to leftthem out themselves."...and I promise that I'll put on a happy face for you...not that gloomy, uninterested face that I was wear..."

Shikamaru gulped nervously as he felt his face burn up. "...I'm really sorry...for making you sad...after all...we haven't seen each other in two years and you'd probably expect a new and improved me, right?... I guess... you thought that I would be a better person and change from the way I was before...but now...I guess it's still all the same...I'm sorry for the way I am..."

After his apology, he slumped down on the ground and remained quiet for a few more seconds while feeling his body sling back abruptly.

"Shika! You promise you'll take me wherever I want to go today?" Ino sat with knees bent and pushed the door back a bit more, watching Shikamaru's head fall downward on her lap. She cupped her hands on his cheeks and squished them. "You even said so! Just you and me!" She squealed, clapping her hands together with glee.

"What have I done?" Shikamaru mumbled to himself, still lying his head on Ino's lap.

Ino's eyes shrank and she raised a fist in the air, cracking her joints all together. "Did you say something?..."

Shikamaru pushed himself off from his position and crawled back. "No, I was just thinking of something out loud is all." He looked at Ino, who still wore her pajamas and threw a thumb pointing it behind his back. "Go and take a shower now. You'll just be wasting more time for us to go out this way if you don't hurry up."

"So, would this be a date?" Ino asked, clasping her hands together with her eyes glittering with delight.

Shikamaru scoffed. "The hell it isn't."

Ino got to her feet and marched her way over to him, cracking her knuckles and raising her fist to the air. "I didn't catch what you said...say it again..."

Shikamaru immediately panicked and waved his hands in front of his face. "Fine, fine, it is..." He finally said.

Ino smiled brightly, running off to her bedroom and took out her usual clothing to wear--her purple sleeveless turtleneck that showed half of her stomach and a black skirt, that was being overlapped with a longer purple skirt (a/n: outfit in the second part of manga). She then dashed over to the bathroom and shut the door, running the shower water in a hurry.

Shikamaru brought his eyebrows up. "What's with this girl?"

* * *

(a/n: This part is a few hours later...) 

"Just where the hell is Hinata, anyway? She's already 15 minutes late." Tenten stomped a foot on the ground, fussing over the issue.

Sakura stared up to the sky and sighed lightly. "Just wait a bit more."

"Sakura! Ten!" A gentle voice called out from behind them, footsteps pounding against the ground.

"Finally you came. " Exasperated, she snatched Hinata's wrist and dragged her over to the tree that her and Sakura were staying under.

Sakura moved into the ill-formed circle that they formed and rested her hand on her forehead. "Okay, here's what you're gonna do..."

* * *

"So where do you want to go?" Shikamaru inquired, drooping his hands down into his pants pockets and kept his facial expression, in sheer boredom. He frowned as soon as Ino looked at him with a face filled with enthusiasm. 

"Hey," She poked him on the cheek, grabbing his attention directly toward her. She gave him an upside-down smileas he looked at her, with no interest. "You promised me that you'd actually have a different expresstion other than that usual frown of yours."

"Stop hallucinating. I never said that." Shikamaru said, his hand on his head as he sighed heavily.

Ino growled, at that moment, contemned at the sight of him. "Liar. You promised me when you were apologizing to me."

"You must've been hearing things." He hastely replied.

Ino'e eyes were tiny slits as she tried to appease her tension. "...even if you claim that you didn't say that, just pull up a smile for me."

He contravened her insistence and with melancholy, deepened his frown. "Why do I have to smile especially for you?"

"You told me it would just be the two of us and that you would change the mood of yours. It wouldn't be any fun when one of us isn't in a good mood." Ino hugged his arm and he attempted to back away but to no avail.

"What do you think that you're doing?" He questioned, wiping her arm off of his.

"Oh c'mon! Please just smile..." She flirted, batting her eyes with delight. "Only for me."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and shook his arm for her to fly off. "I'm not in the mood."

"If you don't want to smile, I guess... I'll have to force you  
then." Ino slumped her back down as she tugged him on his arm a little bit harder than she gripped his arm before and threw him downward unto the ground, with her hands attached to his wrists.

"W-what are y-you doing?" His voice shook in fear as he waited for her to respond.

Ino slyly flew her eyes off to the side and shyly replied. "It's just something that'll make you smile is all..."

Shikamaru became paranoid and did his best to bring himself up but was just pulled back down from Ino. "Why the hell would you want to do that in front of everyone?"

Ino elevated her eyebrow up. "There's nothing wrong with that. Now hold still..."

"INO! Don't think of doing 'that' in front of everyone! We're in public!" Shikamaru's words sped through his mouth as he felt himself sweatdrop on the upper part of his forehead.

"Just shut up for few...it won't take long..." She climbed over him and raised her hands off his wrists as she placed them on his chest.

"Ino!..." He stated insecurely, his heart thumping rapidly. He gulped, knowing that there was no point in resisting the temptation. Slowly, he contemplated her movements as she reached out for the sides of his body and slid her hands down against them.

Ino burst out laughing as she watched him react. "I knew it! I knew that you had a weak spot on the sides of your body!"

"Ino!" Shikamaru laughed out, clutching the sides of his stomach as she resumed tickling him. "S-stop i-it! D-damn it! T-that's not funny!"

In satisfication, Ino stood on her feet and dusted off her hands as she continued to chuckle at him. "I told you that I was going to make you smile! I did it!" She praised herself, joyfully clapping at what she had done. Turning her back around, she stuck a hand on her hip and tilted her head a few turns to look at him. "...by the way...what was wrong with doing something like that in public, anyway?"

Shikamaru blushed dark red as he jumped on his feet as he scratched the back of his neck. "Well...uh..."

Ino sighed, turning her back as she gently tilted her head in a few turns to see a partial amount of his face. "Let's go somewhere already." She said, a hand resting on the side of her hip.

Shikamaru looked away as he felt his stomach gurgle and hung his arms over it. "Let's go somewhere to eat. It's already lunchtime and I'm hungry too." Hesitantly walking up to her, he reluctantly grabbed her wrist and dragged her feet forward. "Besides, you should go and eat something right now as well. During breakfast, you barely ate anything...at that rate, you be as skinny as a skeleton if you insist on doing that damned diet that you keep on doing."

Ino blushed slightly as she caught sight of his hand on her wrist and inched her body toward his. "Is there anything wrong with me on a diet?"

"Have you ever thoroughly looked at yourself in the mirror? You look as though you're anorexic." Shikamaru proclaimed, shaking his head in astonishment.

"Aw...you care!"

"What the hell are you rambling about? Why the hell would I care for someone like you? You annoy me to death!"

Ino smirked and chuckled at his statement. "Oh...don't hide away something like that from me..."

He let go of her wrist and stopped walking, making her toalso stop walking. "Hide what?"

"Your true feelings for me."

"What are you talking about? I really hate you."

"Aw..see you're in denial..." Ino blushed, running up to him in open arms and hugged his arm again. "You look so adorable when you're serious."

Shikamaru blushed with a tint of pink rising on his cheekbones. He swayed his arm to release her from him and flicked her head as soon as she was off. "Stop joking with all the crap. Let's go. I'm hungry." He stamped his feet on the ground and moved himself forward, noticing that her footsteps didn't follow him. He spun around, to find that Ino looked at him innocently, only forcing him to throw at her an angry face. "Why are you just standing there? Let's go."

Ino placed her hands behind her back and stared at the ground. "I'll go with you only if you hold my hand."

Shikamaru huffed out a large sigh and lied his hand on his forehead. Walking up to her, he quickly snatched her hand and gripped it, making sure that it was held firm in his grasp. "Fine I will."

Ino covered her mouth with her vacant hand and tightened the hold of her otherhand with his. From behind her shielded mouth, she let out a high-pitched squeal, with a smooth tone of pink spreading all over her face.

Shikamaru poked her on the forehead and grinned at her. "Just so you know, I'm not going to deal with all this bullshit of yours ever again. I think that there's something wrong with you today."

Ino sneered at him and pouted, her fits of giggles shut inside her mouth. "He just doesn't have a damn clue..." She almost silently declared to herself, her face facing the side as his faced the opposite way, their hands still locked in each other's grasp.

* * *

"I wonder where he's at?" Hinata asked herself, as she patiently waited beside Ichiraku Ramen, awaiting the arrival of her cousin. 

She looked behind her to see Sakura and Tenten behind a tree, yearning to see for themselves if Hinata would successfully execute their plan according to plan. Sakura gave her a thumb up while Tenten glared at her and had her hands circled over her head, pretending to twist it, showing Hinata that if she didn't successfully carry out her objective she was dead. Hinata nervously gulped, her pressure lowering down when she saw Sakura hit Tenten's head and waved at her, reassuring to her that everything will be alright and that Tenten didn't mean what she did at all--even though she really did.

Hinata stuck her hand down in her pocket and took out a lollipop that Tenten had given her earlier and unwrapped the foil, hastily stuffing it in back in her pocket. She plopped the candy into her mouth and had a hand on the stick, enjoying the flavor of the lollipop satisfying her tastebuds. _This isactually pretty good...even though it's really sweet...it must have a lot of sugar..._While enjoying her time sucking on the candy, a loud feminine voice was heard behind her, her curiosity striking her mind.

"Hey Hinata!" Ino called from a distance behind. "What are you doing standing over there by yourself? Are you waiting for someone?" Ino approached her friend in a fast pace, Shikamaru still attached tohishandbeing held together.

"Hey Ino. Shikamaru." She returned her greetings, removing her candy out of her mouth. Eyeing downwards at the two, her eyes looked as though they were about to pop out when she caught sight of both of them holding hands. "HEY! WHY ARE TWO HOLDING HANDS FOR!" She excitedly questioned, rushing up to them, having their still-unremoved hands in the palms of her hands. "THAT IS SO ROMANTIC! OH, PLEASE LET ME BE A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING THAT YOU'RE GUYS ARE GONNA HAVE SOON! SO...I THINK THAT I WANT TO BE THE FLOWER GIRL! I WANT TO THROW THOSE FLOWERS IN THE BASKETS ON THE PEOPLE'S FACES! IT'LL BE FUN! HOW MANY CHILDREN TO YOU PLAN TO HAVE? PLEASE NAME ONE OF YOUR KIDS NAMES MY NAME! THAT'LL BE SO COOL!" She rushed over to Ino and playfully elbowed her arm. "Hey Ino." She slyly remarked, Ino completely surprised at her. "Just tell me when you and Shikamaru are gonna get hitched. I won't tell!"

"H-Hinata..." Ino began to say.

"Oh my gosh! Don't tell me that you two are planning to get eloped! Don't you two worry! I promise to keep your guy's secret safe!"

"Hinata, are you okay?" Shikamaru asked, releasing his hands off of Ino's hand.

"Yeah." Ino added, crossing her arms in suspicion. "You never act like that. What's wrong with you?"

"Yes!" Tenten proclaimed to herself, pushing her arm back with a closed fist. "This plan is starting to work!"

Sakura pinched Tenten on her shoulder. "Ten, what did you give her anyway?"

"What did I give her?" Tenten pointed over to where Hinata stood and looked at Sakura to see if she understood. "I gave her that lollipop. It's supposed to have so much sugar that you'll go insane after one lick of it."

Sakura's concerned expression turned into a wild, surprised one. "Ten, were you trying to make her look bad in front of Neji, on purpose?"

Tenten fanned her face from the heat. "Of course not. I'm her friend. A friend would never do as something as cold-hearted as that." She looked at Sakura who gave her a look filled with a threatening dare."Besides, the only way to stop liking him is to embarass herself in front of him. Making her act way out of character and crazy is how it is done."

Sakura shook her head and let her concentration focus on her three friends infront of them.

"Hinata. Ino. Shikamaru." A voice said from behind approached them. As he finally caught up to them, she stood there, arms crossed and full with uninterest. "Hey." He added unlively.

"Neji!" Hinata ran up to him and hopped off the ground, her entire body being in the arms off her older cousin. She clung unto his neck as he firmly supported her knees and back.

"Hinata, what are you trying to do?" Neji said gloomily.

Both Ino and Shikamaru looked towards the two and stood there in shock.

"Is this really how cousin's interact with each other?" Shikamaru questioned Ino, closely scrutinizing the scene in front of them.

Hinata puckered her lips and swooped them up to his face. "Now pucker up and kiss me, you sexy bad boy." Slowly making her face up to his, in an instant Neji dropped her, Hinata falling down on the ground. "H-hey! I was just joking about that!"

Neji looked at her in annoyance and grumbled as he went to the restuarant with Ino and Shikamaru trailing behind.

In vexation, Hinata placed her lollipop back in her mouth and walked in along with the others, pouting as she crossed her arms.

"Hey Ten. How about we go in a little closer so we can see what's really going on in there." Sakura commented, tugging on her friend's shoulder as he leaned forward to move.

"Sakura!" Tenten removed her hand off hers. "Where else can we hide anyway?"

Sakura blew off the hair covering her forehead as a sign of irritance and once again grabbed Tenten's shoulder as they made their way in front of the doorway of Ichiraku Ramen.

"Neji." Hinata intimately stated to him, hiding her hands underneath her legs.

"What?"

Hinata moved her eyes toward her soup and gazed momentarily at it, her cousin beginning to question why she had brought his name up a second ago. "Will you please feed me?"

Neji dropped his chopsticks in his soup and stared at her. "You have hands don't you? Feed yourself."

Hinata frowned. "But you're supposed to. You're my older cousin and my guardian, you're supposed to help me."

Not wanting to argue any further, he leaned his hands over to grab hold of her chopsticks and scooped up a large amount of noodles as he waited for her to open up her mouth. He grumbled as he did, while Ino eyed every action.

Unknown to Shikamaru, she got positioned her fingers on the coordinated placements to hold the chopsticks and brought a cupful of noodles above the surface of the bowl. "Shikamaru!" She sang brightly, imitating what Neji was doing to Hinata.

"What?" He mumbled unclearly, his words being chewed up with the food being minched in his mouth.

"Open up the tunnel, here's comes the train! Choo! Choo!" Leaning over her the counter, the chopsticks closed in the gap between his mouth and her chopsticks, leaving him in shock as he spat out his food.

"What did you just say?"

Ino sighed as she reluctantly repeated her words again. "Open up the tunnel, here comes the train...Choo! Choo!"

Shikamaru slapped her hand as her chopsticks and the noodles caught in between them fell on the floor. "That's disgusting."

Ino reached over to a cup of chopsticks and broke in half another pair. "Hey, I haven't placed those chopsticks in my mouth yet so just relax. Now open up."

"Open up what?"

"What do you think?"

"There's no way I'm gonna open it up." He hurriedly placed his hands on his pants and leaned his whole body in, his stomach covering a partial amount of his pants. (A/n: apparently, he has a VERY SICK mind).

Watching that his posture changed and that his hands looked as though they appeared on his stomach, she rested her chopsticks back down in the bowl and swung herself to the side as she faced him. "See? If you don't eat, you're going to have a stomachache."

"I would eat better if you weren't to speak to me."

Ino had her hands on her hips as she stuck her lower lip out in front of her upper lip. "What's wrong with me talking?"

Shikamaru sighed as he straightened up his back. "Do you even think about what you say?"

"Course I do. Now open up." She dipped her chopsticks back in the bowl and drew them out, her chopsticks being filled with the noodles in between.

"Hell no! I won't!" He denied strongely, repeating his previous position.

"If you don't eat, then you'll keep having that stomachache."

"Who says that I have a stomachache?"

"Just open up." Ino leaned in closer and Shikamaru leaned back, his body moving toward Neji, who was again feeding Hinata the second time.

"Dammit Hinata. You can feed yourself. I really don't want to feed you." Neji rashly stated, leaving her chopsticks back into the bowl.

Hinata carved in a deep frown and began to plead. "Just one more time. Please?"

With hesitation, he brought back up her chopsticks and picked up noodles from her bowl. Suddenly, as he was about to give her another bite, a heavy force came from behind his back as he continued to feed his younger cousin. In an instant, he fell down on the ground, noticing that the chopsticks that he had was gone out of his grasp.

"Sorry about that, Neji. That damn Ino did it." Shikamaru apologized as he got himself back up to his feet and dusted himself off.

Saying nothing, Neji got to his feet and sat back down, a frustrated Hinata getting his attention.

"Ow! That hurt!" Complained Hinata, who slowly took out the chopsticks that were shoved up in her nose. "Neji! That hurt!"

"Sorry." He replied without feeling and gave her a new pair of chopsticks as she resumed groaning. He laughed as soon as he found her dragging out the noodles out of her nose.

"S-stop laughing!" Hinata demanded as she covered her nose and her face feeling hot. "Uh geez! It looks like I have ultra-sized boogers hanging out from my nose!...it feels slimy too..."

Neji continued laughing as he watched her expression turn into embarrassment and saw her turn her face the other direction as she stared out at the wall. "That hurt..." She said, rubbing her nose as she turned around, to find that he still was laughing hysterically. "You can stop laughing now! All of it's gone!"

Even after saying that, he still continued laughing, forcing Hinata to also laugh with him. She slowly lifted her hand as it covered her mouth, giggles making their way out as she turned red from excitement._ I've never seen him smile like that. Much less, this is the first time I've ever seen him laugh..._Hinata gently ceased laughing and drew her hand away, appeasing herself back to her normal composure and returned to eating her noodles.

* * *

"Ten, I think we should go on ahead now. They're already about to leave." Sakura mentioned, picking herself off from the ground as she leaned her back on the wall of the building.

"Yeah, I know." With the help of Sakura who gave out a hand to her, she hopped to her feet as they walked off toward the park again, knowing that Hinata would meet them there in a few minutes. "So, what do you think Hinata still thinks of Neji?"

Sakura smiled brightly as she had her arms behind her back. "Definately a crush."

Tenten thought a moment and answered her back. "Yeah, I think so too."

"Of course you do. You were wishing that that was what she felt for him from the beginning." Sakura corrected her, both of them beginning to take off walking toward the park.

"Yeah, I know." Tenten placed her hands behind her neck as she walked in a lazy stance. "I'm glad he is only a crush. Cause if he "somehow" started to like her, than you know incest is sure to come."

Sakura held a grossed-out look on her face as she stared at her. "You really think--"

"But," Tenten sighed, looking up into the sky. "...in the end, it was all a one-sided love for Hinata..."

For a moment, the two girls didn't bother to say anything to the other and still walked forward. Feeling a strange awkwardness, Sakura decided to bring out a subject to talk about but was interrupted by Tenten.

"...and..." Tenten paused for a few minutes and continued on with her sentence. "...the same goes for Ino..."

* * *

So...what did you guys think of this chapter? Took me days just to try and figure out what is gonna happen in this chapter but I guess it came out alright.

INQUIRES YOU MIGHT WANNA ASK YOURSELF: Could Tenten be right? Does the feelings that she has for Shikamaru a one-sided love? Or could it be he's starting to take in interest with her?

SUMMARY FOR NEXT CHAPPIE:

...uh...I'm gonna have to skip this one...I really don't have any ideas about this one yet...here's what'll I do...I'll ask you guys whatthe next chappie should be...

1. Absolute comedy strange things that happen with the group of friends but then humorous

OR

2. ROMANCE! Chemistry between another character and their love interest

...well...it's up to you guys...cut for now...I'll be thinking of what chappie 4 is gonna be like!

Oh! Was the Shikamaru and Ino part in the beginning of this chappie crappy? Tell me how I can improve with those kind of scenes! In all honesty, this is my first time writing a story on romance like this! So I'm pretty mediocre at it...:(

ANYWAYS! GIVE ME FEEDBACK PEOPLE! REVIEW IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE NEXT PART OF THIS STORY!

SEE YA!

-XiaoyuKaede


	4. Love is in the Air! Sorta

Okay then. I just got 3 reviews, huh? Oh well. (sighs) What can I do about it? I thought that those Ino and Shika parts would get me some more reviews. Well let's see what I can do in this story to make it more interesting...I'll be thinking...Oh yeah, to make things more clear about the last chappie, (the joke that I put there when everyone was in the ramen place) when Ino wanted to feed Shika he started to get these weird thoughts and leaned his stomach forward and made it look as though he had a stomachache. At that time, he was thinking that Ino had meant that "BJ" thing...from what she was saying..."Open up the tunnel, here's comes that train." If you know what BJ is, then you should know what in the world I am talking about then...and in this story, Shika is kinda nasty-minded so yeah...

and so you guys know, although it may seem like Hinata is the main character in this story, she isn't...basically, all the four girls are all the main characters so, yeah. I didn't want you guys to think that. I think that's all that I want to say over here so, I'll begin this chappie.

NOTE: _blah-_ means that that person is thinking to themselves--THOUGHTS

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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Too bad for me, huh?

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Ino yawned as she rose her arms up to the air, her arms feeling stiff. Moving over to the edge of her bed, she flung her feet toward the floor as she slipped her feet in her slippers, yawning tiredly as she did. To her curiousity, an empty sleeping bag was drawn out all over the floor, completely crumpled. _That's weird. I wonder where Shikamaru is at right now. _Planting her feet on the ground, she rubbed her eyes as she cleared her vision as she walked over to the door. Her ears twitched when she heard the sound of water running in the bathroom and knowing that he was in the bathroom, she skipped down the stairs and headed over to the kitchen to start to prepare breakfast.

As the door knob to the bathroom door spun, Shikamaru exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist as he entered Ino's bedroom. "Damn. I really need to remember to bring my underwear with me when I take a shower." Quickly rushing over to the bedroom, he knocked his luggage tip over to the ground and upzipped the pockets, taking out his briefs while he did. He locked the door behind him as he changed and afterwards, he headed out the bedroom, his towel in hand as he made his way downstairs to eat breakfast. The moment he went out the door, the thump of footsteps stomping up on the downstairs floor caught his attention.

"Hey Shika!" Ino chimed, turning on the stove fire as she saw from the corner of her eye, him approaching her.

Shikamaru waved out a hand out to her with no smile to go along with it. Dragging his feet on the stairway, he sighed with complete pessimism. _Why does it feel so chilly in here? _He thought to himself, attaching his hands over to the other arm to give himself some more heat. "Hey Ino! I'm hungry. Give me something right now."

"Will you hold on? Cooking takes more time than a few seconds so be patient." Ino said rashly, walking over to the table with a clean plate in hand as she slung a terrifying glare at him.

Shikamaru finally reached the bottom of the stairs as he rolled his eyes, standing there in boredom. "Hurry up. I'm hung--"

_CRASH! _

He spun his head around, finding a plate broken into pieces on the ground. He shook his head. "Ino, seriously. You need to be more careful than that."

Ino, for some strange reason, stared at him, her eyes not even twitching and remained on her spot in a petrified state. Weakly bringing her finger to point up at him, Shikamaru clutched his arms with a tighter grip and felt his knees begin to shudder.

"What? Why are you staring at me?" He asked, in complete annoyance, his temper heating up his face. "And would you turn on the heater in this place? I'm shivering my ass off over here."

Ino continued to stare at him in shock. "S-Shika."

"What?" He questioned back to her in infuriation.

Oddly enough, she screamed, not answering his question.

"What?"

She screamed again, covering her mouth to lower down her shrieks. Already, the house was already shaking from how loud her voice rose.

"WHAT!" He yelled back, his ears beginning to hurt.

"Where's your shirt?"

Shikamaru looked at her strangely, not really knowing what she had meant. "What do you mean about that?" He dropped his hands to his chest and began to examine himself feeling nothing other than his bare skin. _WHAT? WHERE DID MY SHIRT GO?_

"...your jacket?"

"I'm wearing no shirt, you idiot! Of course I don't have a jacket on me!"

"Your pants? Your socks? Your shoes?" Ino listed in a hurry, her sudden appallation switching into excitement. Then for some reason she gasped. "...and you're hair!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as he leaned his head down in confusion to inspect himself. He gulped, his head raised up to look at Ino. "That's why it was cold in here." _Damn it! I forgot that I don't live here. I can't just walk around only in my underwear like I did back at home. "..._besides, what's wrong with my hair?"

"Go." Ino hissed, suddenly bringing out a shiny, long, pointy-tipped knife out from behind her back. "Go upstairs and put some clothes on now!" She used the knife to point at the stairs. "The hair, especially! Tie up that hair of yours right now!"

He flinched, immediately stepping backwards. "I-Ino, put down the knife. Put down the knife now." He worriedly stated, he gestured with his hands moving up and down to indicate to her to lower the weapon. He inhaled to himself to relax his mind but then his curiousity taking over his mind. "Hey! What's wrong with my hair anyway?"

"Tie it up! Tie up your hair! You look like a monkey." The knife shimmered in the sunlight as she evilly stared at him. "I said now!" She screamed, aiming the knife at him.

With no hesitation even commanding his thoughts, he rushed to the stairway and back into the room, locking it up securely.

"YOU BETTER NOT COME OUT HERE UNTIL YOU DRESS WITH EVERYTHING ON! IF YOU DON'T, I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!" Ino threatened with a strict voice touching up her tone.

"Troublesome woman." He commented, digging through his luggage as he tried to locate a shirt and pants. "Damn it. I left them all in the bathroom." Bringing himself back up to his feet, he turned the knob and opened the door with a little crack in it as he peeked through it.

"Don't even think about it!' She swiftly threw the knife to the side of the door, forcing him to shut the door back.

"AHH! SHOOT!" He screamed.

Shikamaru gasped for breath as he held a hand on his heart, feeling its beats at a faster pace. "That idiot is actually serious!" _Now, how the hell am I supposed and get my clothes when she is keeping a tight eye on me? _Shikamaru creaked open the door with another crack exiting the door.

"Dammit! I told you to dress up or else!" Ino warned him, throwing a thicker, sharper knife at the side of the door.

"EEKK!" He screamed in a high-pitched voice--like a 5 year old girl. _What the hell? What kind of scream came out of my mouth?_

Shikamaru quickly shut the door again, thinking to himself how he was going to pull himself off in this situation. _I'll just have to be quick about it and run as fast as I can to the bathroom. _He inhaled a long deep breath as he relaxed his mind as he thought thoroughly of what he was planning to do. The moment he had a idea springing in his mind, he instantly grabbed the doorknob and opened the door ajar, as he stretched his legs apart to shorten the distance to the bathroom.

Ino crossed her arms as she stared hard at him. "Just be glad I have no more knives." She walked away back to the kitchen as she tried to finish cooking their breakfast.

Shikamaru breathed in a deep breath as he leaned his back on the bathroom door. "God thank you." He felt relieved of being saved and slipped his clothes on, taking his time getting himself out of the bathroom. With a bit more confidence, he walked back down the stairs and hopped off a few steps from the bottom of the stairs. He saw Ino glance at him as she settled a plate of pancakes on the table with empty glasses. He went up to the table and pulled out a chair out for himself and leaned his face forward, makinghis face lay on the palms of his hands. "Satisfied?" He asked, his eyes lowered down in annoyance.

Ino slowly walked over to him and examined him thoroughly, softly hitting him on his arm as a sign of approval. "Just go ahead and eat now. But really, if you do that again, I swear I'll kill you."

In relief, he sighed to himself and gently laid himself back in his chair, closing his eyes. _I'd feel sorry for the guy that she likes. She'd probably treat him worse than she treats me. _

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Tenten loudly knocked on the door of the Hyuuga mansion as she tapped her foot on the ground, with complete impatience. "Great. I can't believe I left my panda bear doll in Hinata's room!" She scolded herself, the bottom of her hands hitting the side of her head_. What in the world is taking so long anyway for them to pick up the door anyway_? _I can't stay in front of this door here forever! _She grumbled to herself as she repeatedly knocked her fist against the door.

"Ow." A voice had said while Tenten had continued to knock.

Tenten lifted her head as she found no one other than Neji standing there with the door open unknowingly to her.

"Oh." She mumbled, immediately bowing her head back to the floor.

"What is it, Tenten?" He asked bluntly, not even caring that she was there in front of him.

Tenten laughed to herself as she felt herself blush slowly. "I...uh...I wanted to see if Hinata was here or not."

"She isn't."

"Oh."

Suddenly, the two of them were quiet, unable to allow words pass out through their mouths.

"Well...bye." He said dully, swinging the door to close it as Tenten reacted to his action.

"Wait!" She shouted, jolting from where she stood and tried her best to prevent the door from closing, causing her hand to cease the door's movement as it crunched her fingers. "OW!" She yelled, pulling her hand back as the other hand had gently rubbed it. "You overgrown crap on a stick. That hurt!"

Neji opened the door wide as he rested his elbow on it, massaging his forehead with his hand. "You shouldn't have stuck your hand in there then."

"Well..." Tenten thought her moment as she tried to think of something witty to reply back at him. "You...you shouldn't have been rude then."

"How?"

"Closing the door in front of me when I was still there."

"You had nothing to say to me."

"You should've said something!"

"I don't have to."

"It would of been nice."

"I hate being nice."

"Well then...I hate you. I hate arrogant, self-centered, entirely rude people like you who just try to throw people off you." Tenten angrily replied, grasping her injured hand tightly with the other hand. _What in the world did I just say? NO NO NO NO NO! I DIDN'T MEAN TO SAY THAT! I REALLY TAKE IT BACK! CRAP!_

He rolled his eyes while clogging his ears with his fingers as she complained to him. "I hate people like you who love to annoy the hell out of people."

_NO. NO HE DIDN'T! HE DIDN'T JUST SAY THAT HE HATED PEOPLE LIKE ME, DID HE? I-I MUST BE HEARING THINGS! MAYBE I'M NOT FEELING WELL THAT I CAN'T CONCENTRATE OR SOMETHING. DO I HAVE A FEVER! AAHH! NO NO NO NO! NONONONONONONONONO!_

She slowly rose her hand up to her forehead as she felt her face burn up from blushing and both anger and confusion.

Noticing that her hand was beginning to drip down blood, he layed out a hand for her, making her shoulders to jump from his immediate action. "Here, give me your hand."

Tenten looked at him in irritation and crossed her arms and pouted. "If you think kissing my hand where it hurts will make it feel any better, than you are seriously retarded. What do I look like to you? A toddler? I don't need any of those 'kiss the spot where it hurts' kind of things."

"No you idiot. I wasn't going to ask you that." He stated harshly, his eyes focusing at the ceiling. "You want me to bandage that up for you? That's at least the nicest thing that I can do...for rude people that you hate, like me."

Tenten blinked at his remark and reluctantly nodded her head as she walked a few steps closer to him to find that he back away from the door to make room for her to enter. To her surprise, Neji had snatched up her hand and held it in his grasp as he closely scrutinized that wound.

"It looks as though it isn't anything bad." After saying that, he linked his hand on her wrist as he led her through the endless corridors to the bathroom.

_H-he's holding my hand!...kinda...Oh! His hand feels so warm...I wish he had aimed for my hand instead of my wrist. Damn you wrist! You got in the way! _Tenten slowly felt herself blushing rapidly as her head swayed from both sides. "Why do I feel so light-headed?" She whispered to herself, but loud enough for Neji to go ahead and turn his head behind to see if she had said anything to her.

"Did you say something?"

Tenten examined his face--eyeing every detail that perfected his look. "No. You must be hearing things." She lied, trying her best to avoid eye contact with his eyes. _Wow! He looks so much handsome than the last time I saw him! He even looks so much older! It's hard to believe that he is actually my age. Heh, I must be the luckiest girl to actually have him hold my hand...well...wrist...I think that I am more in love than before! This is definately heaven! _

As he led her through the hallways, he suddenly felt himself pulling something heavier, as though he was dragging an anvil. He stopped walking and turned around, finding that Tenten had collasped on the floor with a ruby red face. He slowly walked up to her and leaned on the wall nearest him. "Other than injuring you, did I kill you as well?" He smirked, gently poking her with his foot. Noticing that she hadn't moved from his action, he bent down his knees and sighed, using his hands to wake her up. "Hey, wake up." He poked her shoulder as he leaned his head over to have a full view of her face. "Geez..." He said exasperated, laying a hand over her forehead while noticing that her face was burning up extremely. "Hey Tenten, are you awake? Are you sick or something?"

She didn't respond, forcing him to pick her up and bring her to the bathroom. _HEH YES! It's working! _Tenten thought to herself as a smile softly crept on her face, the warmth of his body press against hers. _He's really falling for my act! HA HA! He's so naive! _

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"Hey Shika." Ino declared, while sitting on the couch with him as they watched T.V. together. Apparently, nothing was on television and all that Shikamaru did was flip through the channels after taking a small glimpse of what the show was. His attention was easily distracted from her voice and he looked at her, not bothering to stop clicking the button on the remote.

"What?"

"I have an idea."

"Wow. That's a once and a lifetime experience, isn't it?" He remarked sarcastically, receiving a smack on the head by Ino.

Ino grumbled. "Shut it! Listen up. Since it's still summer and all, how about we go camping with the others? It'll be fun!"

He rubbed his head as he stared at her without any interest. "Are you serious?"

Ino nodded, snatching the remote from his hands as he, in disgust, looked at the television to see what she was watching.

"No." He said simply, removing the remote away from her grasp.

"No what?"

"It sounds stupid."

"The camping trip?"

"What else, you idiot."

"What makes it so uninteresting to you?"

"What is so 'fun' about camping anyway? Tell me that." He retorted, turning off the television as he listened closely to what she had to say.

Ino sighed as she began to justify her answer. "Well, you can say that it's an excuse for all of us to get out of boring old Konoha, you know. I mean with no parents or guardians with us, it'll be great! Why waste the rest of the summer in a city with no entertainment?"

Shikamaru eyed her in suspicion. "Just what do you plan to do with no parents or guardians around, huh?"

Ino looked at him nervously and scratched her head as she tried to laugh off his question. "Hey! Don't even think that I'll actually do something like 'that' there? Don't be stupid...and besides, while we're camping out and all, there's a high chance that we'll be able to see deers there. I mean, those things are always lurking around the forest...and being the deer farmer that you are..."

Shikamaru's ears twitched as he heard that 'word'. "Deers?"

"Yup." She slyly said, with a high grin, hoping to hear his answer with a voice of delight.

"I hate deers."

Ino's eyebrows twitched after hearing his reply. "Why? I thought you loved them." She had hoped that he would be much more enthusiatic rather than his usual gloomliness.

"About three years ago, one of my dad's deers...beat me up."

Ino raised an eyebrow at him. "Just how the hell did a deer beat you up?" She asked with curiousity and a bit of embarrassment.

He exhaled out a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. "Well...it all started on one day that I was outside staring up at the skies as usual. I was taking the time for me to relax and clear out my mind and I really enjoyed it. Just watching the clouds float on by, it looked as though I felt one with the sky; it felt as though I could fly and be free--"

_Is this really the guy that I like? _Ino's eyes shrank and her eyebrows twitched by themselves with no control. _That last line seemed to rhyme though...'just watching the clouds float on by, it looked as though I felt one with the sky; it felt as though I could fly'...hold on, what the hell? Is he trying to be poetic or something or is he going to tell me about how he got beat up? But still...by, sky, fly...God, that tears my sides...HA HA..._

_"_...then all of a sudden, this one deer had stared at me with fiery eyes after eating and glared at me for at least five minutes and I looked back at him, sort of having that feeling that someone or something was watching me. While he was looking at me, he slowly walked up to me, and he began sniffing me. Then when I was about to pet it, it charged forward at me and stabbed me on my ass with it's antlers..."

"Ouch..." Ino commented, still feeling a bit uneasy on how ridiculous his story was.

"...and when I was about to get up from the attack, the damn deer went on top of me and began to sniff my butt."

Ino gasped in horror. "No! He wouldn't!"

"Yeah it did...and also, that deer was a girl."

"Well, that would mean that that attack didn't hurt that bad did it? The antlers aren't as pointed as a males."

"Yeah but this one was different. It's antlers were sharper than the other female deers. I remember that a few days before, I saw it sharpening it's antlers with the edge of a rock."

Ino felt her head sweatdrop as she uneasily said, "Okay..." _Just what in the world do they feed those deers anyway?_

"...anyways, for one last time, it had stabbed it's antlers on my butt that I wasn't able to move afterwards but I was able to turn my head and see what the female deer was doing. From behind me, the deer sniffed my butt again--"

_Does this deer have some kind of attraction to him or something? My God...it's like what dogs do..._

"...and then it walked away, over to the spot that I was sitting at and began to sniff it. It turned out that it found one of it's children...DEAD."

"D-Dead?" Ino asked, suddenly creeped out of the thought. "Just how did it die?"

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders and looked at her. "How I am supposed to know?"

_Wait...didn't he say that the deer found one of it's kids where Shikamaru sat at? _"Hold on...I think I know who the real culprit is on killing the little deer!"

Shikamaru gulped but tried his best as his best to maintain his composure.

"It's was...YOU!" Ino pointed a finger at him as he had his eyes glued to her hand. "You murdered the innocent little deer. But tell me this, WHY! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MURDER A HELPLESS, YOUNG DEER?" Ino screamed in an over-exagerrated dramatic fashion.

"I-It was an accident! I swear it!" He explained, his voice beginning to quiver.

"I don't care if it was or not! Tell me now!" She urged, scooting over to him a little more as she opened her ears to hear everything he was about to say clearly.

"Alright! Alright! I confess!" He shouted, covering his face with his hands. "I killed the baby deer! It was an accident! While I was staring up at the sky, I thought that I was sitting on a rock."

Ino shrieked. "OH GOD, NO! Don't tell me you killed the deer...like that!"

Shikamaru nodded solemnly as he continued his explanation. "It turned out that the rock was actually the deer and I had killed it by squashing the its entire body! I murdered the deer by suffocating it!" Shikamaru spat out, with little bits of tears leaking out from his eyes.

"Ah ha!" Ino blurted out, pointing a finger at him. "I knew it! I figured out that you were the murderer and that you killed the helpless little deer in a slow, painful way of death."

"I know." He sobbed. "Officer, please arrest me now." He raised out his arms toward her for her to handcuff him but then, it was blown away by Ino's hands who struck it back.

"Seriously, you can cut the crap now. The joke's not funny anymore."

"Yeah, I know."

In the gap of silence, both sprung out laughing out loud from the story in a matter of seconds.

"Oh yeah, I remember that for one week you were walking kind of funny. You had your legs spread out and took small steps. I recall that there were two holes in the back of your pants, too!" Ino laughed, holding her sides to lower down the pain.

"It felt as though I had a stick shoved up my ass or something." Shikamaru chuckled, clutching his sides. "Damn deer..." He hissed.

Suddenly, Ino stopped laughing as she cracked her knuckles and swung a fist at his face. "Serves you right that that deer kicked your ass. How dare you kill it's child!"

Shikamaru stopped his laughing after the blow and massaged his face as he began to mumble. "Damn woman, just when I thought that we were actually getting along..."

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Turning the knob of the bath on, Neji placed Tenten in the bathtub as soon as it overflowed with water and he patiently watched her sink in, her eyes immediately widening as she gasped for air. She had a hand on her chest as she panted, feeling surprised of the sudden water trickling down all over her. "W-why is the water cold?" She inquired, her arms crossed as she tried to grab for warmth.

"That'd be the only way to wake you up." He said easily.

Tenten grunted to herself as she stood up from the tub. "You really are a strict guy, you know that?" She declared, lifting a foot up to exit the tub. "Seriously, you need to be more gentle especially to gi--" In an instant, as soon as he dropped her other foot on the floor, she slipped and fell on the ground, accidently tripping over Neji and falling on top of him.

"Ow..." She murmured, not knowing what she had landed on and sat up, backing away after knowing that he had been the one that saved her from the fall.

"What the hell was that for?" Neji asked as he rubbed the back of his head.

Tenten sat on top of the bath tub and unrolled her hair buns. "From what you saw, it was an accident." She ran her fingers through her hair as she rolled her eyes as she combed through the strands of her hair. "Besides, it's your fault anyway. You were the one who put me in that tub and now, I'm drenched. All I can thank you for is that I don't need to take my daily two showers anymore."

Neji paid no attention to what she had said and only stared at her, realizing that this was the first time that she had ever had her hair down in front of him.

Feeling a little uncomfortable from him staring at her, she looked at him evilly and had her hands on her hips. "Um...may I at least have a towel or something? It's really cold and I'm not really getting any drier this way."

"Oh...yeah." Was all he said, and exited the bathroom, returning with a fresh towel in hand.

"Thanks." She stated, as she rubbed the towel all over her arms and legs and hair. In all awkwardness, she caught a few glimpses of him staring at her as she dried up and after feeling less drenched, she hung the towel around her neck as she sat there staring at him. "Okay, what are you staring at?"

He looked at her in confusion. "I'm not staring, I'm looking."

"No. You never took you eyes off me, you're staring."

"Nothing wrong with that."

"Oh yes, there is. It's rude. As expected from someone like that..."

"I'm not being rude right now."

"Well, I think that you are. Okay, okay, I know that right now I look funny because...well...I look different but then you don't need to stare at me. It feels really uncomfortable." She justifed herself as she sighed.

Neji shrugged his shoulders and bent down below the sink to open up the cabinets. He took out a box of bandages and took one band-aid out, removing all of its plastic covering. "Here, let me see that hand of yours."

Tenten hid her hand behind her back as she saw him approach her with the band-aid with his hand. "It's fine."

"Let me see it now." He commanded sternly, walking up to her as he sat down beside her on the tub.

Tenten shook her head and turned to face him, turning around that her hands were facing the wall behind her. "It's okay. I'm fine."

"No, let me see it."

_Now's my chance!_ Tenten swung her hands in front of her and pulled him down into the tub, causing him to be all wet all over him. "I guess you can say that that's payback." She playfully stuck out her tongue as she pulled down her eyelid along with it.

With both anger and annoyance, he pulled her down too in the tub and she fell in with a big splash, the towel landing on her head as she dropped in. "Hey!"

Although she wasn't able to see him from the towel covering up her entire face, she was able to hear Neji laugh at her.

"That's not funny!" It's really cold in this tub and I was just finished on getting all dry too!" Tenten nagged, pushing the towel off her head.

He rolled his eyes as he continued to hear her complain. "Shut up. You deserved that."

"What did I do?"

"Being a bitch."

"How?" She thrusted a hand in the water as water droplets landed on his face.

"I don't need to explain why. You should already know."

"No I don't!" She splashed him back, creating the water that she struck into tiny ripples.

"Hey." A tiny voice sang out from outside the door. "Are you inside there Ten?"

"Is that Hinata?" Tenten asked Neji who gave her a look of not knowing who it was. "Get out of my way!" She shouted, pushing him down as she tried her best to leap out of the tub.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I'm getting out first. I don't want my cousin to see me with a person like you!" He tugged her back down in the tub as he jolted from his position to escape.

"No you won't!" Reaching out in front of her, she grabbed hold of his hair and pulled him back, forcing him to trip back off the side of the tub and back into it. "Don't get in my way!" She declared, rushing her way out of the tub but was brought back in by his the strength that he had from pulling down her arm.

"Um...Ten...Neji...what are you two doing in the same bathroom and in the tub?" Hinata asked, not fully bringing herself in the bathroom from the fear of finding out what they were really doing.

"Oh hey, Hinata! It looks like you're home now!" Tenten greeted, throwing at her a waving hand.

"Yeah, nice to see you back home, Hinata." Neji replied strangely.

Hinata nodded back at them and reached for the doorknob. "You guys should've closed the door, you know...you guys continue what you need to be doing the tub. I'll go away now..." She dismissed herself, softly pounding the door shut.

"Damn...she got the wrong idea..." Neji stated, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

"Yeah...and I don't feel like a virgin anymore..."

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Okay...I think I'll stop the chappie right...HERE! I really am tired...and school's coming up this monday! And already, I'm having a bad impression on it...cause I don't have any classes with any of my friends! DAMMIT! I have a right to be angry right now! Yeah, I was screaming my ass off today because of that...I mean, it's no fair that for the first year of high school (my age remains confidential...so u know...i skipped a few grades) I have NO CLASSES with any of my friends! Which only means I gotta make new friends...oh well...

NEXT CHAPPIE:

-relationships with Hinata

-same with Sakura

-not gonna add the camping trip one yet...that the chappie afterwards...

Well...you know the drill...PLEASE READ AND REVIEW ASAP! I NEED REVIEWS FOR ME TO CONTINUE THIS CRAPPY STORY OF MINE! I FEEL THE URGE TO END THIS STORY UNTIL THE END SO PLEASE SUPPORT IT! IF YOU LIKE THE STORY OR THINK THAT IT'S OKAY OR WHATEVER, THEN HIT THE PURPLE BUTTON ON THE LEFT CORNER BELOW THIS MESSAGE AND START YOUR TYPING!

anyways...that's all for now...till next time...maybe...

-XiaoyuKaede


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